Lords of the Fallen may satisfy your Dark Souls appetite

If you happen to finish Dark Souls II and end up loving it, you’ll eventually go into a withdrawal phase, where you look for another game just like it. You can go back to From Software’s previous efforts (Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls), which are great but not exactly the same. You could also wait forBloodborne on the PlayStation 4, a move that could be agonizing. It’s scheduled to arrive in 2015.

But if past and distant future don’t appeal to you, CI Games and Deck13’s Lords of the Fallen may be able to satisfy you in a few months. Think of it as a Polish take on Dark Souls or Dark Souls with a bit of The Witcher 2 thrown in. Whatever the case, the game has the feel of those difficult titles. The one difference is that Lords of the Fallen is more story-driven as players take on the role Harkyn, a warrior investigating a series of events tied to a long-dormant god.

In my hands-on time with the game last month, I came away impressed with how it captured the feel of those aforementioned titles. The control scheme is similar with the shoulder buttons handling the attacks for weapons and shields in each hand. Players are punished for dying by losing experience points but they can retrieve it by returning to the spot where they last died.

In addition to similar control schemes and gameplay elements, Lords of the Fallen has that punishing level design that will test a player limits.

But the most interesting similarities lies in the level design. Lords of the Fallen creates similar situations where players will be up against monsters and if they don’t pay attention they can fall through pits and run into other hazards. This is a title that demands patience and caution as enemies have a nasty habit of lurking around corners or laying in wait for an ambush.

Although the gameplay resembles Dark Souls, the game does have elements that make it distinct. For example, players will run into red orbs that act as checkpoints and will restore Harkyn’s health and mana. They’re located in random spots where enemies can still intrude on players. In addition, the healing bonus can only be used once at these spots.

Harkyn has the ability to switch classes by switching gear.

Getting into the nitty gritty of things, the combat itself does seem to have a different feel from From Software’s most recent title. Lords of the Fallen battle system plays looser than Dark Souls version. Circling doesn’t feel as tight especially when you’re trying to bait out an adversaries attack.

When it comes to Harkyn, the protagonist has the ability to switch classes based on the gear he dons. Players can switch out through the menu or use a D-pad to switch weapons. He can pull out a staff to toss out magic. He can pull out daggers for quick rogue attacks. Despite the range of abilities, the combat still maintains the intensity where every encounter matters and players who aren’t careful can die easily.

One of the unusual parts about Harkyn’s classes is that the rogue, warrior and cleric each have a certain spell tied to each gear. In the warrior’s case, its spells are very powerful mitigates and can wipe out strong enemies, but Lords of the Fallen balances this out by making the use of such spells spare. It takes a long time to build Harkyn’s mana back up, so players can’t constantly pull off that type of magic like a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. The rogue class has its own magic that’s weaker. The same goes for the cleric. But what’s great is that Lords of the Fallen gives players the opportunity to experiment and try it out.

Fans will get a chance to when this unexpectedly promising title launches Oct. 31 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.